DA welcomes drive to recruit police reservists

The Democratic Alliance welcomes the SAPS recruitment drive for police reservists that is now taking place in the Eastern Cape. An advertisement was placed The Herald yesterday (subs: Thursday, 17 Nov) calling for people to join the police reservists.

I appeal to members of the public to come forward and volunteer. Let’s join hands to make our communities safer.

This step is long overdue. The DA believes that fighting crime is a partnership between the community and the police. The SAPS alone can never win the war against crime. We need more boots on the ground and greater community participation is part of the solution.

In January this year, the MEC for Safety and Liaison, Wiziwe Tikana, dismissed the DA’s call in the media for such a recruitment drive. She had stated in a reply to a legislature question I asked, that there were 1 739 reservists in 2014/15 and 2 031 in 2015/16. For my statement and the reply, click here: da-eastern-cape-media-statement-bobby-stevenson